This invention relates to gravity outlets used to discharge lading from covered hopper railway cars, and, more particularly, to a gravity outlet which meets current American Association of Railways (AAR) regulations for such outlets.
In co-pending United States patent application Ser. No. 08/186,377 filed Jan. 25, 1994, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present application, there is described a gravity outlet for use on railroad hopper cars of the type used in grain service. As noted therein, the AAR has recently promulgated new regulations concerning gravity outlet design and operation. This new regulation is AAR standard S-233 and addresses such issues as hopper outlet design, installation, and maintainence to prevent water, waste, and debris contamination of the lading during transit. Also addressed are torque requirements for a latching mechanism used to open and close the outlet, and automation and accessibility of the latching mechanism to facilitate offloading of grain from a railcar.
In our co-pending application, we describe a latching mechanism for opening and closing a gravity outlet. While the mechanism described therein functions to achieve the desired operational results, and meets the AAR standard, other latching mechanism constructions could also be employed to achieve the same result.